Dillon

Day 1
Today I started my trip in Rocker Ville, and went to Mt. Rushmore. There were so many people barely see it because of so many people. I went to the gift shop, and I went inside. There were little glass spheres with gold flakes inside. I bought two of them.

From there I went to Crazy Horse. It’s still being made. First I rod the bike trail, and at the end I got to see Crazy Horse Monument. Then I went to the gift shop. We got lunch at the gift shop, and for desert we got whipped honey they were selling. They were selling a mini sculpture of Crazy Horse made out of bronze. It was selling for $25,000 dollars.

The last stop I went to was Harney Peak. It is the highest point in South Dakota. I started the trail that was six miles long. Since I was in Hill City, I was tired. So I went to a hotel in Hill City. It was a three star hotel that was called Best Western Golden Spike Inn for only $51 dollars a night.

Day 2
When I got up I had a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee at 6:00a.m., and went off from Harney Peak to Jewel Cave National Monument. At Jewel Cave I went hiking most of the time on the trails. Then I took a tour of the cave, and I found out that the cave is 133 long! For lunch I went to subway and got a delicious meatball marinara sub with a Dr. Pepper. I didn’t spend much time there, and around 11:00 I went to wind cave. Wind cave is a cave and a wild park too. When I was there I saw lots of prairie dogs, and there tunnels. There was 28,000 thousand acres on the wild park including the cave. It was owned by the Indians until 1881 it was found by America, later it was turned into a national park. From there I went Custer state park. I amazed when I found out there was over 1,500 bison living in Custer state park. Including bison, there are other animals too, like goats and prairie dogs. The place is the second largest park in America. For the night I went to blue bell lodge.

Day 3
I woke up and got some cereal. I was camping at Custer State Park and decided my next stop would be the Black Hills. I got to the Black Hills around 7:00 in the morning. I learned that it was made by volcanoes exploding, that’s why they call it the Black Hills. Back then, the Black Hills was full of gold miners. Special metal was found when George Custer came in 1874. I went for a hike and the trails were very nice. I had to do a lot of traveling again. While I was on the road, I found a restaurant that served cheesy tofu. And then I went out back on the road. I finally got to Grand River National Grassland. Grand River is one of the four prairies in this grassland. All four prairies together are called the Dakota Prairie Grassland. Dakota Prairie Grassland altogether is about 155,000 acres. There wasn’t much for hotels were I was, so I drove to Ledgepole and found a La Quinta Hotel and stayed there for the night.

Day 4
I woke up this morning and ate some gyro meat (lamb). It was 5:00 in the morning and I’m starting off to go to the petrified wood forest. I got there at 6:00 am. When I was there I learned that the wood there was 4 million years old turned into rock. After I was done looking at the petrified wood I went into the gift shop. You can buy petrified wood from the shop. From the petrified wood forest I had to travel a lot. I stopped for lunch at sushi and some nice squishy squid. From the sushi place I went back out on the road. After four hours of driving I stopped at a city named Kadoka and found a Best Value Inn for $81 a night. For supper I had liver and onions and then went for a nice swim in the hotel pool. Then I went to bed.

Day 5
I woke up at the Best Value Inn and got some clams for breakfast. From Best Value Inn I headed off to the Badlands. I get there around 7:00am. I go hiking for an hour. While I was hiking a prairie dog came out and bit me. I had to stay there for another hour to heal. When I was better, I found out there was fossil remains all over the park. There were 240,000 acres with bison, pronghorn, and coyotes. From the Badlands I had to travel a lot again. I stop at a place that sells anchovy pizza. I loved it so much I got another one for the road. From all that traveling, I finally reached the Enchanted Doll Museum. It was super creepy. They had over 4,000 dolls in a English style castle structure. There were also 2,000 authentic dolls from over 125 countries. I stayed at Holiday Inn for the night. Before I go to bed, I grabbed a quick snack of Mexican tacos smothered with duck sauce. During the night, I dream of giant dolls attacking me. I guess I never should have gone there.

Day 6
I got up and decided I would have a normal breakfast. I had some cereal with some cappuccino. I drive to the Corn Palace in Mitchell. While I am there, I find out that the Corn Palace is made of corn, wheat, rye, and the domes are made of onion. Before I leave, I sneak a corn cob and boil it. This was my lunch. From the Corn Palace, I go to the Territorial Museum of South Dakota in Yankton. While I was there, I could go to buildings, like the council building, the blacksmith shop, the railroad passenger depot, and the Gunderson School. The Territorial Museum was built in 1971 by the society of Yankton. From the Territorial Museum, I go to the University of Sioux Falls. I learned that it is a Christian Liberal Arts University. It is one of the two universities I have to go to. You can register April 26 to join. I rent a camper for the night and I have some s’mores with a nice juicy burger.

Day 7
I woke up and got some French fries dipped teriyaki sauce. I started to drive to Sioux Falls’ Falls Park. I arrived there at 6:00 in the morning. At Falls Park, there is a mill called Queen Bee. It was built in 1887, and a hydraulic plant was later built in 1908 on the falls. From Falls Park I went to Oscar Howe Gallery. Besides a gallery, you can learn about the early days of fur trading, railroading, farming, and ranching. There they have a gift shop and you could buy books, pieces of art, and dolls (creepy) from $3.00 to $300 dollars. Seeing the dolls made me not feel like eating lunch. From the gallery, I went to the Dakota State University. It’s a public school and you can stay for four years or more. The highest degree offered is the masters’ degree. I go to American Inn for the night and I’m still creeped out so I didn’t eat supper.

Day 8
For being so creeped out about the dolls, I decided to go to a IHOP for a nice big breakfast. When I’m there I get six silver dollar pancakes and two enormous omelets. Then I decided around 8:00 I needed to start moving. I arrive at the Redlin Art Museum. There are over 150 paintings by Redlin oil paints. The building was made by Charles Redlin, but his son Terry Redlin did all the paintings. From the museum I went to another museum called Dakotah Prairie Museum. John Murphy, a college professor, made the museum for people to learn about the town’s history. The professor collected over 500 items to put in this museum. From there I go to the lowest elevation in South Dakota, Big Stone Lake. The lake is 12,600 surface acres and is 26 miles long. There are lots of fish at this lake. There are over 7,000,000 walleye fry. I go to a restaurant that’s about five miles away and get a nice juicy steak for my last day. Now I go home from my long vacation with lots of souvenirs that I bought. South Dakota is a very nice place.